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Alberta Avenue- Housing "Road Map"

the Alberta Avenue Community League is hosting a meeting with residents and city staff in hopes of creating a "housing roadmap" that will help guide various types of development in inner city neighborhoods. This should be an interesting meeting for anyone interested in infill, non-market housing issues, densification and different housing types.

That was a good idea. We'd thought about something like that for Parkdale earlier this year... maybe some posters on the advertizing boards at the Stadium LRT station or along the commuter routes through the neighborhood with something a little cheeky like "If you lived here you'd be home by now" or something to that effect

Why do the mature neighbourhoods need the city to help them advertise? Aren't all the houses that need to get sold getting sold?

Unjustified stigma and fear are the largest issues with these areas. Generally, when you get people to get out of the car and walk around (even at 1 am), many start to become very fond of the areas.

I introduced three friends to the inner city this year - two were going to buy condos in the 'burbs, the other relocated from the 'burbs. All three purchased single detached homes (one in Alberta Avenue, one in Delton, and the last in Parkdale).

These areas have issues, but what area doesn't? Can either be happy here or pay $150K+ more for areas like Tamarack (train, recent murder, recent pedophile) or Terwillegar Towne (multiple attacks on young women earlier this year).

That was a good idea. We'd thought about something like that for Parkdale earlier this year... maybe some posters on the advertizing boards at the Stadium LRT station or along the commuter routes through the neighborhood with something a little cheeky like "If you lived here you'd be home by now" or something to that effect

U of A did a cheeky advertisement like that last year if I remember. It showed students in a bed on the LRT.

I like the idea of choosing something along the lines of actually enjoying mature trees in this lifetime.

Alberta ave is gaining great momentum, a wonderful location with close proximity to everything and great walkibility. I've never understood why people like commuting exorbitant amours of time going to work when there are great alternatives with bigger lots,and bigger trees

I agree, I was under the impression some would be okay spending money on billboards. Best thing the city did do was put in new sidewalks/ lights, curbs and blacktop. This is a great way for the city to advertise

^ Well, in our case, when we'd talked about the direct marketing of Parkdale the money to advertize would have probably come from the community league, not the city. And lots of community leagues do advertize, in a sort of round-a-bout way.

The light standards and sidewalks are very nice, but there's got to be something more that can be done to leverage those enhancements and get more people interested in the area.

A personal thought I have had for a long time is the COE dabbling in development.

A great example is the Cromdale; after how many tax $$& wasted on a nuisance property with the detriment of alberta ave and also the entire cities image. Problem properties should be expropriated and redeveloped into something well above average buildings in the area. Simply an examination of tax $$ spent on thousands of hours from eps/ ambulance &fire in 1 year alone! If the "cost" is $100000 per year, the development is qualified to be a loss of $100000. Also would not have to wait 10-20 years for the vacant lot to get developed after the 20 plus years killing our city.

Crazy idea??

Now apply a concept to edmontons worst buildings we could have a cleaner more welcoming city.and to prevent slumlords to capitalize on running down properties have some stiff penalties waiting in the gutter if a "business" chooses to let loose

It's an idea.. unfortnately expropriation is not something that the city can easily accomplish.. there are major hurdles, not the least of which being the development lobby that has such influence over the city. They'd have serious issues with that

It's funny... I hardly even think about the Cromdale anymore. It's amazing how fast things can change when the negative influences are removed

Other cities have been known to expropriate quite a bit more freely. we expropriated a dozen homes for the lrt going to Southgate. Even if construction went onto the property 2 feet people were bought out and then resold witha pinch missing from said property.

Calgary from my understanding expropriated all of east village?

If properties become a major problem expropriation is an option write it up in bylaw and owners can get their three warnings before action lol

^ Why not? The owners are compensated for market value and even some expenses. Biggest problem I can see might be some slumlords caring even less about their properties, knowing that the worse it gets, the faster they will get a good deal from the city.

Not sure where I conveyed how a property "looks" I'm talking about nuisance property that costs the city more in the publics money then reasonable. A great example is the York hotel, on average of 5 calls a day; more visits then west edmonton mall!

And I never said public facility exactly, It could be what the planning department would see an asset. Maybe the "free" market doesn't have the gonads to take a risk. So the city could step in; build and auction or sell in the "free" market

Expropriation happens all the time in many cities; edmonton does it too however never in the context I'm proposing.a simple tweak of bylaws with proper safeguards in place to give proper notice for compliance and also to prevent slumlords from blockbusting.

Capital tower came very close to a forced sale from my understanding! For those not familiar it it the tower on 101st 106ave. The crime,drug dealing became outrageous ( this took YEARS to get to this point) the city,eps, SCAN, And capital health stepped in and set guidelines for owner to follow.25% of the tenants were evicted,rooms were renovated, full time security personnel on site. What was the catalyst? Another murder in the building not the first but hopefully the last. The owner,what most would call a slumlord is a Chinese national "based" out of Vancouver. Foreign ownership....... Not sure if it's a problem in edmonton, however when landlords do not live in the community they really do not care what happens,unless it could effect them.

The list of outrageous properties is well known among edmontonians, however forgotten easily. If compelling evidence showed a problem property wasting 100's of thousands in tax $$$ we should as a city step in and remedy the problem after a 3 strike rule

Community Standards has worked with other agencies to condemn properties and raze unsafe buildings. Even then it can be a huge fight if the owners don't want to play ball

The discussion about some of the vacant buildings came up at the meeting as well. It was noted that almost all the available retail spaces on the Avenue are occupied, 118th has the lowest commercial vacancy rate in the city at the moment, and there's likely room for more. The problem is that the remaining commercial buildings are vacant and likely past their serviceable lifespans. These older buildings need to make way for new mixed use development.. But you can't redevelop what you can't buy.

There needs to be some sort of incentive for those sitting on holding properties to do something with them. Not sure if expropriation is the answer, but something needs to be done

The north-central infill deveopment group is meeting tonight with a representative from sustainable development, to review the process for applying for and receiving a development permit, and to answer some questions and concerns that have come up regarding infill and proposed changes to zoning and the MGA. Should be an interesting meeting

Very productive development council meeting last night. Our two guests from sustainable development were able to answer a lot of questions and will be helping us push forward on some great ideas:

-Extend EDC boundaries to include 118th ave from NAIT to Rexall
-Formulate a "good neighbour" clause to help guide infill developers on proper practices
-Made adjustments to MNO to further define rules and reduce variances
-"Completion permit" for major developments already in the works, extend to minor developments
-Review appointment process for SDAB panelists, add community input on board
-Peer review of any non-market housing proposed using public dollars

Looking forward to hearing from council on how these ideas can be implemented